US Golf: Cool Sorenstam proves a big hit

In the swing: Annika Sorenstam on her way to a 71

By Martin Johnson

12:01AM BST 23 May 2003

There is a rule on America's PGA Tour which specifically bans the wearing of shorts, so it was no great surprise when Annika Sorenstam walked on to the first tee yesterday sporting a pair of natty white slacks. What caused more of a stir, however, was the way the 32-year-old Swede went on to demonstrate just who was wearing the trousers.

"Miss 59" was the logo on the back of her cap (after a record-breaking round in Arizona a few years ago) but all those male professionals who secretly wanted this to become "Miss the Cut" would not have enjoyed an opening one-over-par round of 71 in the Bank of America Colonial tournament - which was as impressive a negotiation of pressure as the game (men's or women's) has seen for quite some time.

It's a moot point as to who had the clammiest palms on the first tee yesterday, given that her two male playing partners are normally watched by close relatives only, and the enormous gathering at the opening hole would have been almost as unnerving for Aaron Barber and Dean Wilson.

There was even more tension when the announcer appeared to forget Sorenstam's name (it turned out that a television producer was yelling "not yet!" into his earpiece) and in circumstances in which you wouldn't have ruled out a nasty hit straight into the rhododendrons, she uncorked a 243-yard four-wood straight down the middle.

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Sorenstam wobbled her knees in mock relief, and then embarked on a round of golf covered ball by ball on live television, or as ball by ball as it ever gets in this commercial-dominated medium. It was also followed by the kind of crowd stampede you only normally see in the Ryder Cup and, by the time she finished 4.5 hours later, there had been so many pictures taken of her that shares in Fuji must have tripled overnight.

She actually appeared to thrive in this claustrophobic environment, and broke into a warm smile at the first of many inevitable shouts of: "Yo the woman!" Her wonderfully rhythmic swing (a lesson for male golfers everywhere) resulted in only one missed fairway all day and, despite the fact that her two partners are - on the official PGA driving statistics - relative powder puffs, she was up there alongside them for most of the round.

In fact, had she not been quite so ordinary with her putter - 36 putts at this level is not far short of hopeless - she might easily have come in with something like a 66. Even so, her round was one in the eye for Vijay Singh, whose pathetic list of excuses for missing this tournament after his unchivalrous comments a week ago prompted one spectator to wear a chicken shaped hat with "Vijay" on the brim.

After parring the first three holes, Sorenstam holed from 20 feet for her only birdie from the back fringe of the par-three 13th (her fourth), which produced such an adrenalin surge that her drive at the 14th was measured at 280 yards. She should have birdied the par-three 16th after getting a member's bounce off the side of a bunker, but missed her putt from only 5ft.

Her only missed fairway at the fifth (her 14th) resulted in her first bogey when she three-putted from 45ft. And there was a disappointing end to the round when she took three more putts to get down at the final hole to finish one shot better than Barber, and level with Wilson.

The crush in the media tent afterwards was almost as bad as it was on the course - the lopsided interest in a single competitor mirrored by the fact that the early leaders, Patrick Sheehan and Dan Forsman, could have held their own interviews in a telephone kiosk.

Sorenstam played much better than a 71, but she will now be aware - after walking off tied for 76th place - how much stronger the depth of play is on the men's tour than her own.